Canada Nickel aims for zero-carbon emissions at Crawford

On Tesla’s second quarter conference call last week, Elon Musk entreated the industry to: “Please mine more nickel – Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way.” Musk’s comments couldn’t have come at a better time for Mark Selby, president and CEO of Canada Nickel (TSXV: CNC), which owns 100% of the Crawford nickel-cobalt sulphide deposit in Ontario. The company has announced that it is setting up NetZero Metals, a wholly-owned subsidiary that will use existing technologies to produce zero-carbon nickel, cobalt and iron products. Selby says Canada Nickel has a good chance of meeting its zero-carbon goals given Crawford’s location close to carbon-free sources of hydro-electric power in the Timmins mining camp, but also because of its largely serpentine rock, which some studies have shown naturally absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) when exposed to air through a naturally occurring process of “spontaneous mineral carbonation.” Serpentine rock is the host rock that makes up more than 90% of the mass of the Crawford project.